LAWS212 - Employment Law

Year

Credit points

Campus offering

Prerequisites

LAWS104 Foundations of Law and Legal Research , LAWS105 Contract Law

Teaching organisation

Unit rationale, description and aim

This elective unit allows students to develop specialist knowledge and building on knowledge and skills developed in the compulsory units.

Employment Law explores the relationships between employers and employees in Australian workplaces. The focus is on understanding the relevant common law and statutory entitlements and/or obligations that any one party may have in different workplace contexts and how to choose between the different enforcement mechanisms available. Topics include discrimination, sexual harassment, bullying, underpayment of wages, disciplinary procedures, termination of employment and strike action.

Learning outcomes

To successfully complete this unit you will be able to demonstrate you have achieved the learning outcomes (LO) detailed in the below table.

Each outcome is informed by a number of graduate capabilities (GC) to ensure your work in this, and every unit, is part of a larger goal of graduating from ACU with the attributes of insight, empathy, imagination and impact.

Explore the graduate capabilities.

On successful completion of this unit, students should be able to:

LO1 - Describe the ways in which Australian employment laws protect the rights and dignity of Australian workers (GA1, GA8, GA9) 

LO2 - Develop and communicate reasoned opinions and advices related to employment matters. (GA4, GA8, GA9) 

LO3 - Critically analyse recent developments in the area of employment law (GA1, GA2, GA4) 

Graduate attributes

GA1 - demonstrate respect for the dignity of each individual and for human diversity 

GA2 - recognise their responsibility to the common good, the environment and society 

GA4 - think critically and reflectively 

GA8 - locate, organise, analyse, synthesise and evaluate information 

GA9 - demonstrate effective communication in oral and written English language and visual media 

Content

Topics will include: 

1. Overview of Australian Employment Law 
2. The Employment Contract 
3. Sources of Entitlements 
4. Conditions of Employment 
5. Express and Implied Duties 
6. Equal Opportunity 
7. Occupational Health and Safety 
8. Dispute Resolution in Employment Relationships 
9. Termination of Employment: Remedies under the Fair Work Act 
10. Termination of Employment: Common Law Remedies 
11. Industrial Action 

Learning and teaching strategy and rationale

Mode:Lectures, tutorials, electronic consultation, library tasks and presentations or Online lectures and activities.  

Duration:3 hours per week over 12 weeks or equivalent.  Students are expected to spend 150 hours in total for this unit. 

This level two elective unit allows students to demonstrate knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law building on knowledge developed in the compulsory law units.  

Our strategy is to encourage students to creatively engage with unit content and to apply knowledge , skills and understanding acquired in compulsory law units to a specialist area of law.  

The unit is designed to be delivered in intensive, weekly mode or online mode. We have taken a blended learning approach to provide accessibility and flexibility to our students and a student focused approach that increases depth of learning and engagement through actively utilising LEO.   

Assessment strategy and rationale

The assessment strategy is designed to assess knowledge, skills and understanding in a specialist area of law, and to apply knowledge developed in the compulsory law units to a specialist area of law.  

The assessment tasks for this unit are designed to demonstrate achievement of each of the learning outcomes listed.  

Overview of assessments

Representative texts and references

Stewart, Andrew, Stewart's Guide to Employment Law (Federation Press, 5th ed, 2015)